Robert Morris 68, Bradley 61. Thoughts:

[ColonialCrazy]

The Colonials, who trailed at one point in the first half by 15, rallied down to defeat the Bradley Braves for their first win of the season. Some thoughts....

Rodney Pryor was fantastic. 7-8 from the field. 6-7 from three. The dagger late in the game to put the Braves away. On top of that, he came off the bench to provide a HUGE 10 points in the first half when RMU was really struggling to score the ball. He hit a nasty, Karvel Anderson like, step back three late in the game to stop a big Bradley run and build RMU's lead. He was sound defensively, knocked down all six of his free throws, including two big ones under a minute left. Keep it up Rodney.

The defense was fantastic. Bradley shot only 35 percent from the field (18-53), and struggle to get good, consistent shots. Guys were flying all over the place, trapping the ball, swatting shots, and keeping the Braves out of the lane. Bradley did make some tough three point shots, finishing 9-22 from downtown. If not for a few deep, deep threes, the Colonials would have walked away with a double digit win.

Lucky Jones is back. The senior forward, who struggled in his first two games, got off to a slow start tonight. Then something clicked. Jones knocked down a few threes in a row, and didn't stop. He finished with 17 points on 4-9 shooting and six rebounds. Jones will have to lead the Colonials this season, and this performance was a great start. His big threes helped RMU erase that 15 point deficit early in the game.

At 0-2, and down 15 points as the offense looked awful at times. A young team, on a long road trip could have laid down, took the loss, got on the plane and head back east.

They didn't.

Rodney Pryor check in, supplied some offense, Aaron Tate and Lionel Gomis checked in and supplied some toughness, and the whole team followed. This was a great win for a young group looking for their identity. Kavon Stewart played his best game of the season, finishing with six assists (gotta work on the free throws, 0-3) and looked under control of the team. David Appolon did what he does best, winning lose balls, collecting a team high six rebounds, and making five of six free throws (App makes more "winning plays" that anyone on the team). While Marcquise Reed didn't replicate his 24 point outburst at UNC, he took a lot of pressure off other guys, and played within the offense. You could tell the Braves were focused on him. He also made a nice and-1 bucket on a good drive to the rim that helped RMU build their second half lead.

Overall, great team win. The defense was very good and that is something this unit can build upon. The offense has work to be done, but it is nice knowing that Pryor and Reed can score 20 plus points on a given night. Lucky Jones broke out of his funk, and the team executed down the stretch to close out their first win of the season. Tough game Saturday as RMU will play at Georgetown, so this was a win they really had to have.

Full coverage on Colonials Corner. Tip is set for noon at the Verizon Center, and the game will be broadcast on Fox Sports 2.

--Lee Kunkel
--@Kunkel5

This post was edited on 11/19 10:53 PM by ColonialCrazy

This post was edited on 11/19 11:11 PM by ColonialCrazy

 

[Chris Cappella]

Piggybacking off what Lee said, what a team win!

-The spotlight will be on Lucky Jones and Rodney Pryor, and rightfully so. Pryor had that sweet lefty stroke that he's shown in his short RMU career. Him becoming a spot-up three point guy who brings crazy length and athleticism on the defensive end sounds like a nice role for Rodney. It could also spell the end for Chuck Oliver, who played 0 minutes tonight.

-Obviously, Pryor isn't going 6-7 from downtown every night, but like we saw, we know what Marcquise Reed can do. I still think Chuck has a role on this team too, but he appears to be in Toole's doghouse. Very few get out of the dog house. Juanie Newton is still missing.

-Lucky Jones will have about 25 more nights like tonight. He's awesome.

-I love the glue guys on this team. Aaron Tate and David Appolon are awesome. Lee and I just refer to Appolon as "winning plays App" because he does all the little things. Game-high 9 rebounds for the 6-foot-4 guard. As for Tate, it's no coincidence RMU played their best defensive game with him back. Sure, this was also the worst of the three teams RMU as faced, but the difference between Tate and Minnie defensively is night and day.

-Speaking of Minnie, the kid will get it. The game will eventually slow down for him.

-Lionel Gomis played big today and was rewarded with big boy minutes at the end of the game. This is a HUGE development to keep an eye on. Who does Toole trust late in the game to get stops and rebounds? It shouldn't be Stephan Bennett, so I was glad to see Gomis out there throwing his weight around.

That's about it! To be honest, I didn't catch most of the game. i was live on RMU radio from 8-10. I'll try and re-watch the game tomorrow (if available) and have a few stories up prior to Georgetown. Nice job getting the road win, especially to help build confidence.

--Chris Cappella
--@C_Cappella

 

[trending101]

@Chris I did post somewhere else but don't know where. I didn't see the game but did follow the live stream. I read your recap and it's good to hear that Lionel is coming around. Luck will have more games like this, but must stop turning the ball over. Rodney was great tonight 7/8 WOW! Still scratching my head about Chuck. He is a senior, is he not? I liked his game last year and he had a few big ones for us and he seems like a nice enough kid, what is the deal? Now I don't know all the details, but why wait until a guy is a senior to bury him? It doesn't look good for the program.

A win is a win at this point.

 

[ColonialCrazy]

It has been quite surprising that Chuck Oliver has been all but non-existent so far this season.

To make maters worse for him, David Appolon and Marcquise Reed have been more then serviceable at the two guard. Chuck doesn't bring much versatility like Appolon, who can play the 2 and 3 role. He also ran point guard last year when Kavon Stewart was suspended. His tough defense gets him his minutes. For the type of zone that Robert Morris runs (a matchup style 2-3, with man-to-man principles) App is a perfect fit because he can play four of the five spots in the zone. Only Lucky Jones is better.

Reed is also a big body (for a guard anyway) and has shown he can score in bunches. Chuck has never been a good defender, and can only play the shooting guard role.

Chuck will have to work his way back in the rotation. Last season he went through a rut in which Andy Toole benched him and he was barley used. Toole said on multiple occasions that Oliver struggled with the details and consistency. He worked his way out of it, and was back to getting double-digit minutes per-game, even before RMU lost a bunch of players to suspension.

Reed is a freshman, and App has his limitations, so I don't think we have seen the end of Oliver, but he will have to earn those minutes.

I don't think it's a bad look for the program. I think most players would love the type of situation where the player that earns the minutes in practice etc, gets the minutes regardless of what class they are. Right now, Reed and Appolon have earned those minutes.

This post was edited on 11/20 8:47 PM by ColonialCrazy

 

[Carlester]

Great to get a win and to come back from a huge early deficit and brutal turnover-laden start. Pryor, obviously, was huge and made big shot after big shot - very similar to Kavel's game v. Ohio U two years ago. Bradley is awful but good to see us play much better defensively nonetheless. Go Colonials!

 

[trending101]

This post was edited on 11/22 8:42 PM by trending101